1. When in the course of my journalism, there are allegations about anyone, I have the ethics to pick up the phone & ask questions. If the subject does not wish to converse with me, I send the questions in writing. I give them plenty of notice.
2. Yet again, from a former colleague at the national broadsheet, a newspaper I was once proud to write for & where they loved my work, they write factually incorrect, defamatory nonsense without giving basic courtesy. Journalism 101. I learned it as a cadet there. Get comment.
3. Here’s some comment, after the fact, Mr Sheridan: Your paper printed nonsense about my journalism long before fact-checking claims. Collusion with police? Didn’t happen. Even when, in court, evidence was led to prove your paper printed in error, it refused to correct record.
You say my book reconstructed decades-old conversations with one-sided sources? Maybe pick it up and read it before taking your mate Gerard’s word for it. Your paper ran this campaign despite knowing, first hand, that I am an ethical and diligent journalist.
I loved that paper, back in the day. It floors me that people I once called friends run this hateful campaign. But the bottom line is, it’s not about me. It’s the message all of this sends to vulnerable people, let down as little kids.
To frame this as a concoction of my book or the ABC is a profound insult to 12 men & women who sat through weeks of evidence, to 2 eminent appeal court justices, to the OPP, to Victoria Police officers who daily see the impact of child abuse perpetrated by your Church.
But finally, it’s a profound insult to a decent young man who went through 5 years of hell for nothing - only more trauma. You’re smart enough to know beyond reasonable doubt is an incredibly high bar for historical sexual matters. That conviction rates are artificially low.
So look if you can’t do the basics of journalism, look into your heart and find some Christian decency. It’s what good priests taught me at mass. It’s what good priests spoke to me about for my book.
